The present invention relates to a base plate conveyor and a sticking apparatus, and particularly relates to a base plate conveyor having a base plate centering mechanism.
A conventional base plate conveyor having a base plate centering mechanism is used such that a base plate is conveyed and centered to be precisely and quickly processed at the various stages of a sticking apparatus while the base plate is in a trued up state. The conveyor is very important for a film sticking apparatus in particular, and performs the centering of the base plate at a fixed speed by using a guide-rail-type centerer. Since the contact resistance between the guide-rail type centerer and the side edge of the base plate is high or if the centering force of the centerer is too strong, the central portion of the base plate is buoyed up from the conveyance rollers so that the conveyance of the base plate is likely to be stopped. For this reason, a pole-type centerer whose base plate contact portion is rotatable was proposed in the Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 96244/87 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined published application").
Since the conventional pole-type centerer mentioned above functions so that a fixed force is forcibly applied to a base plate during the centering thereof to push the side edge of the base plate at a point on the cylindrical peripheral surface of the centerer, there is a problem in that the base plate is likely to be curled or damaged at the side edge thereof if the thickness of the plate is small.